The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-07-13
A TERRIFIC EXPLOSION.
Destruction of Powder Mills in
New Jersey.
Three Men Blown to Atoms, and
Others Injured.

The drying and spare mills Of the Latin &
Rand powder works, at Black Oak Ridge ,
dreary place in the mountains, about eigh
miles from Paterson, N. j., exploded, Tues
day, killing Charles Stier, August Karouse
and John Cave. The powder works are
situated in rocky valley. The numerou
mills are scattered about some thousand feet
from the other, so that an explosion II
one may not cause an explosion in another
The mills are built of heavy masonry, e1
! cepting one side and the roof, which are
lightly built, so that an explosion may do as
little damage as possible to property. There
is but one cultivated field in the tract of land
occupied by the powder mills, and in this
stood the drying mill.
Just before nine o'clock Tuesday morning
prettier field could not have heen found II
the State of New Jersey. A few minute.
later no more desolate spot could have beer
| found.
Three men had been blown to atoms and
their remains scattered over the field. The
men had been at work putting 300 kegs OF
The engineer was preparing for the dry
| ing work. which was to be done III
the afternoon, but no hot air had as
| yet passed into any of the cylinders. In
some unaccountable way the powder ignited.
| Over three tons exploded, and it scattered the
! mill and its contents quarter Of a mile
from the drying mill.
Immediately after the first explosion an
other followed. 1t was less severe than the
| first. Almost a quarter of mile from the
| drying mill stood the spare mill, which was
| used only in cases of emergency. 1t had not
been used for months, and the only explosive
| it contained was the fine dust continually
| generating in powder mills. There was,
however, enough of this to cause wreck SIM
liar to that in the drying mill. In both cases
the mills were utterly destroyed:
The neighboring trees looked as If Ne
braska cyclone had had them for toys, and as
if fire had continued the work.
James Young, the engineer, who was near the
drying mill when the explosion occurred,
| was cut on the head by a flying piece OF
timber. James II. Gardner, the superin-
tendent of the works, received scalp wound
from falling piece Of brick. A thousand
feet from the drying mill stood the engine
house, where power for the press and corning
mills is generated. The shock of the explo,
was SO great as to break steam pipe, and
the engineers William Bliss, got some hot
water on hisibaek. None of these men was
seriously injured
The main Office of the works and the stables
stand three-quarters of a mile from the scene
of the explosion. Half the glass and sash
there was shattered and several employees
were cut by the falling glass The Morr1s
Canal passes by the Offices, and here IN
basin q number of canal boats were lying.
The force of the explosion jostled these and
stove in two of them, one OF the canalers
was thrown into the water.
Immediately alter the explosion the surv1V.
ing workmen went to hunt for the remains OF
their dead fellow employees. Near the drying
mill only blackened timber and iron were
found. Further on they searched and at every
few feet some part of human body was
found and deposited in bag. Three hum
dred yards from the mill was found the lower
part of human skull, with part of the YER
tebra and collar bone attached to it. A short
distance further mans foot was picked up,
and still further on several pieces OF ribs.
The loss to the powder company will he
about ST., 900.
This is the fourth explosion at these works.
On December Is, 1882 an explosion OF the
press and corning mills killed John White,
Bryan Tansy and Henry Kuhl. On March
2S, 1883, diabolical plot to blow up the
mills was discovered by a workman, who
found a pebble in one of the kegs OF
powder. Had this got into the mil! it
would have struck fire and an explosion
would have been inevitable. Sitting the
powder produced two handfuls of gravel:
On February &, 1877, George Miller was killed
in an explosion, and on November 3, 1881,
John Clarkson and Albert Dunn were killed
in similar manner.